Author
Topic: 12.24.2132 - Hopenight at the Tavern (Read 1748 times)

To say that Temmit was anxious would be an understatement. Like calling the Karh'Thul a bit of a threat to humanity. "The humanity of Safe Haven, that is." Smokey reminded him.

As soon as Hopeday classes were done, he dropped his student-gear in his dorm, went through the cafeteria for a small sandwich and a large coffee, and headed out into the streets.

It was a cloudless night; cold and brisk. The sort that turned your cheeks to thick clay (since there's no such thing as rubber). Temmit's long legs made short work of the trek from the dorms to the Can't Get There From Here.

He entered the main lobby, and while he turned immediately to his right, he glanced about the lobby on the off chance that Leslie was there.

The Lobby was empty as it always was in the Winter. The Marks didn't even bother having a worker at the desk during the cold season. For when the flow of the Appleseed stopped, so did the flow of people needing their rooms for a night.

Temmit walked into the tavern. It was about half full of patrons looking for a nice whiskey shot or some-such to warm their bones. Temmit always felt odd walking into a tavern, despite knowing that this one was accepted by the owners, and the patrons, as a family establishment long ago.

And keeping with that theme, he spotted Leslie sitting on the floor playing jacks with one of her brothers named....it escaped Temmit for the moment.

'Isaiah', chimed Smokey.

'Thanks.'

Leslie looked up and smiled at him, waving him over as she continued her game with the 5 year old. A couple of smiling patrons, even an old salty looking one, simply watched the children at play as they sipped their drinks and enjoyed the warmth of the place.

Leslie continued to play with her brother as Temmit approached and stood idly bye.

"...one, two, buckle your shoe. OOPS! You missed!" Leslie said giggling as Iz fumbled the ball. "Hi Slick[/i]," she said without looking up at him.

Her brother looked up at Temmit for a moment and then returned to watch Leslie as she, very quickly, went through a round in such skill that even Temmit was impressed. When she finished she put the jacks and the small ball down and said to her brother. "Okay Iz, this is your last turn, as I said before, I have to talk to my friend here about a homework assignment. So I will need to stop playing."

"Okay," said the child without complaint.

The kid got through only one bounce before failing miserably. "Keep practicing sweetie, you will get the hang of it," Leslie said and then kissed him on the head and mussed his hair with one hand as she got up off the floor.

She finally looked up at Temmit. "Got the research for the assignment?" she asked him.

With that, Leslie lead Temmit back to the Lobby and beyond the door leading to the guest rooms. She then led him up two flights of narrow wooden stairs and then down a corridor. The doors were all on the right hand side of them with windows, viewing the front of the tavern, on the wall to the left. They passed 3A, 3B, and so on until they got to the last room on the right, 3F.

Leslie put her hand down the front of her shirt, pulled out a key hanging on a long necklace and bent over to unlock the door with it.

"Welcome to my room," she announced in a whisper and walked in.

Beyond was a guest room one would expect at an Inn, but it looked just like it had been lived in by the typical 12-year old. Stuff was everywhere.

As Temmit entered and closed the door behind him, Leslie pushed off some clothing on her desk chair and pointed at it, obviously wanting him to sit there. She then sat on the bed.

After he sat down however, Leslie sighed and got back up. She walked over to the door and opened it a few inches and then returned to the bed and sat back down.

Temmit raised an eyebrow.

Leslie whispered her reply to it. "Whisper or not, my mother would freak if I had the door closed with a boy in here."

She then added, "Don't worry, the entire floor is deserted, we won't be overheard."

"All the signs of portence were correct. The freak changed to my House today," she said and waited for Temmit's reaction.

"And?" he asked simply.

"Well, I snuck into the student resident's room and read the official transcript."

Leslie then sat up and gave her best impersonation of a snooty business type "After review by the Quintescant, it has been decided that Mr. Faithborn's talents and temperment would be best served in the House of The Actors. His schedule is attached, please assign him a new room in The Actors boys dormitory, effective immediately."[/i]

She smiled as she relaxed back into her normal personae and said, "It was signed by a myriad of government types, starting with High Priest Fresenius himself[/i] at the very top. All of the signatures also had yesterday's date."

"Well...he was in three of my classes," Leslie said and Temmit was alarmed immediately, half-getting out of his chair.

Leslie put up a hand though, apparently ready for this reaction and also ready to disarm his fear. "But he didn't pay any more attention to me then he did anyone else. He chatted up everyone today. Got a little popular in fact, due to the fact of the noteriety of being able to change Houses. That doesn't happen very often and is usually only done amongst the ten year olds who get initially placed wrong. So he is a popular oddity now. Some of the shallow girls in my classes want to take him on as their pet so they can tutor him." Leslie rolled her eyes.

Leslie stopped for a moment and simply looked at Temmit while thinking.

"I did." He confirmed. "And I won't be surprised at all if that theory holds water. In fact, I'll be rather surprised if it doesn't."

"We'll have to simply watch him for the moment, I'm afraid. Let's see if he is overly observant to any one specific student. He's made no secret that he's looking for a gang. Let's see if he finds one."

Temmit was thoughtful then. He was quite pleased with himself for unravelling Leslie's portent, but at the same time he was irritated with himself for not being able to fathom why Marcus was moved.

"Fresenius and his goons obviously want something that the Actors are close to. Or someone in that House." He mused out loud.

"Let me know if you find anything of interest. And in the meantime, try to stay away from any of your "normal" clan research. Did you have anything specific that Renee's got you researching?"

"Had this piece of information been presented before my theory, it would have been evidence of that notion. Presented late, and it leaves me to wonder at the next conspiracy!"

He smirked at himself for a moment. "Then what we're left with at the moment is to be wary of him. And to wonder two things:"

He held up one long finger. "Where is the real Marcus?" He extended another finger "Who was this Marcus before he was Marcus?" Then a thought ocurred to him, and he extended a third finger. "And what genious of irony thought to make a kid named 'Faithborn' an imposter?"

"From what I know of spell craft, he would have to be pretty good with magic to keep up a disguise for an entire day," Leslie said offhandedly.

"My research is on the Outlands Patrol at the moment," Leslie then said and Temmit looked at her blankly. "You asked me what Renee has me doing, that is what I have been doing at the Library both on and off curfew hours. Truth be told, I can't get that lock to open on that vault, so my research on the subject is kind of at its end. I have read all the normal books related to the time period about twice now, and there just isn't much in there."

Leslie got up and walked around her bed, she stooped over and took a bag off the floor and placed it on the bed, then went diving under the bed for something. Temmit almost laughed as her entire form was lost underneath.

She soon emerged with a parchment colored with festive decorations, a stick of wax, a huge signet ring and scissors.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I might as well wrap up my sister's birthday present while we are in here," she said. "I might not get another chance before Warday (Wednesday)."